Learning and development specialist, Thrive, has announced the acquisition of Huler, a provider of employee intranets focused on improving employee engagement and facilitating learning and mentoring.

Similarly to recently acquired mentoring and coaching provider Guider, Huler’s solution will be integrated into Thrive’s unified learning and mentoring platform.

Established in 2019, Thrive has built a user base of more than three million workers at companies including ASOS, Volvo, Vodafone, Avon, Burger King, and the Scottish Government.

Speaking exclusively to UNLEASH about the acquisition, Thrive Co-CEO Cassie Gasson says Huler will bring a “critical interface layer” to the company’s overall offering while “transforming the employee experience into something truly intuitive and consumer-grade.”

Gasson explains that Huler’s intranet will act as the “central hub” that will “seamlessly bring together content, tools, news, and culture” for users.

“Crucially, Huler also introduces powerful federated search capabilities, meaning employees can find anything they need across all their systems, not just within Huler itself,” she adds.

“It’s the elegant, unified front-end that ties our AI-powered learning and mentoring solutions into a cohesive, seamless experience.”

Focus on employee experience in the AI era

In July, Thrive announced that London-based AI-powered mentoring and coaching provider, Guider, would be its first ever strategic acquisition.

Thrive CEO and Founder, Sean Reddington, told UNLEASH that the deal would create a new learning and mentoring platform to address exiting gaps between “learning and doing”.

Gasson explains that the addition of Huler as the central hub of Thrive’s offering does not simply mean the company is adding a new feature: “it’s about fundamentally reshaping the employee experience for the AI era”.

“We’re building tools that are genuinely fit for how people think, learn, and work today – fast, intuitive, and seamlessly blending human connection with AI. Now, with Huler as the “front door,” we’re delivering on that vision,” she tells UNLEASH.

She adds that the move will position the combined Thrive, Guider and Huler-based platform to “disrupt the market, making the industry sit up and take notice that the time to just talk about great employee experiences is over”.

This isn’t just an incremental improvement; it’s for the forward-thinking HR leaders ready to completely reimagine, not just refine, their employee experience.”